This Book is Funny!

Funny books for children

Supermarket Gremlins

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9781405277136This wonderful rhyming picture book written by Adam and Charlotte Guillain (authors of Spaghetti with the Yeti and Pizza for Pirates) and illustrated by Chris Chatterton, shows us the zany, secret world of the Supermarket Gremlins.
This book is guaranteed to make you laugh out loud as you try to spot the little monsters hiding in and amongst the shelves, getting up to no good. Read along and lift the numerous flaps to reveal what those naughty Gremlins are doing – and it’s often very naughty, in the best possible way. A particular favourite Gremlin of mine would have to be the one pulling a glorious moonie from the kiwi shelf!
This is a bold, bright and funny book for all ages and would be a perfect read before a trip into town. Your visits to the supermarket will NEVER be the same again. You have been warned! 
 If you like this try Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton.
Published by Egmont. RRP £6.99.

Betty Goes Bananas in her Pyjamas

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9780192738189This second picture book about Betty by Steve Antony is a real joy.

The tale of one toucan’s attempts to get a wilful young gorilla to bed, Betty Goes Bananas in her Pyjamas takes the premise of Betty Goes Bananas (a huge hit in our house) and adds the extra punch of a troublesome bed-time routine. Any parent who has experienced their son or daughter wanting to do everything other than sleep will appreciate the efforts of Mr Toucan, the unflappable bird who tries his very best to convince Betty it really is time to sleep.

The artwork is superb – Betty’s expressions are so spot on. Yes, this is a gorilla, but Betty perfectly represents every toddler that’s ever lived. If you have a daughter or son like Betty, you’ll certainly relate to what you’re seeing on the page.

So this is definitely a book that both the parents and their children will love. And any book about the difficulty of getting a child to sleep, which is likely to be read at bedtime, is very gratefully received. Come on kids, see your parents’ pain and give them a break!

Also, where can I get me some banana pyjamas? They are awesome.

If you like this try Steve Antony’s other books Please Mr Panda, or Betty Goes Bananas!

Published by Oxford University Press. RRP £6.99

 

 

The Mystery of the Haunted Farm

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The Mystery of the Haunted Farm CoverI love a picture book but I especially love a LARGE picture book. And they don’t come much bigger than The Mystery of the Haunted Farm from the award-winning artist and author, Elys Dolan. Each page is packed with beautifully detailed scenes that are guaranteed to make you laugh out loud.

Take a trip to Farmer Gregg’s farm and join the Ghost-hunters, three highly qualified pigs, on their quest to find out what is spooking his farm. You will bump into zombie ducks, ghost cows as well as Donkula and Frankenhorse! However all is not as it seems and the pigs investigation leads them to the mysterious chicken coop on the hill! Are you brave enough to join them?

This is a perfect read for all ages and would be a perfect bedtime read with the lights off and the torch on. Just be careful you don’t read it on a night when the moon is full. You have been warned!

If you like this, check out Elys Dolan’s Weasels, or There’s a Lion in my Cornflakes by Michelle Robinson and Jim Field.

Published by Nosy Crow. RRP £10.99.

 

Specs for Rex

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specsYasmeen Ismail has been creating some terrific picture books of late, and her work is always so bright and exhuberant. Time for Bed Fred is a delight, and Specs for Rex is another wonderful example.

Rex has new specs and he does NOT like them! So he spends the whole day trying to hide them from everybody. There’s lots of fun in the inventive way he tries to keep the annoying eyewear concealed, and it’s all helped along by Ismail’s gloriously energetic watercolours, that show off Rex’s colourful and sometimes messy world. I particularly like his pant collection!

If you like this, try another of Ismail’s books, I’m a Girl or even the Mouk books by Marc Boutavant.

Published by Bloomsbury. RRP £6.99

Super Happy Magic Forest

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Super Happy Magic Forest Cover
The tagline reads: Five brave heroes. One epic quest! And that’s exactly what you get with Super Happy Magic Forest by Matty Long.

Join Blossom, the unicorn, Twinkle, the fairy, Herbert, the gnome, Hoffius, the faun and Trevor… the mushroom, as they go on an epic quest to find the stolen Mystical Crystals of Life. The intrepid team travel through icy mountains, burning hot deserts and cold, dark dungeons in order to save their beloved Super Happy Magic Forest.

And if this story sounds like it’s bonkers, that’s because it IS.

Matty Long has dug deep into his magical imagination to create a world where every page delights the senses and makes you wonder what craziness is going to appear on the next page. It’s a super happy wonder of a book, and has been shortlisted for the 2016 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, so HOORAY!

We’re currently a bit lost as to what book you might like if you like this. Maybe some of the cheery Adventure Time Comics? Or there’s a sequel out soon, if you can wait!

Published by OUP. RRP £6.99

 

A Beginner’s Guide to Bearspotting

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A Beginner’s Guide to Bear Spotting by Michelle Robinson and David Roberts Cover

If you go down into the woods today you are sure of a big surprise. Actually make that two BIG surprises. We are off for a walk into bear country.

Here is what you need to know:

Black bears are dangerous and black.

Brown bears are dangerous and brown.

The problem is sometimes black bears can appear a little brown and brown bears can appear a little black. If you are a little confused then you need this book.

Michelle Robinson and David Roberts have created a real gem here. It’s large and hardback, and utterly gorgeous, but then you would expect anything illustrated by David Roberts to be beautiful.

So it’s safe to say A Beginner’s Guide to Bearspotting will become an instant bedtime classic. In fact I am certain this will be read morning, noon and night. Just be sure to remember the valuable lessons it teaches you about black bears, or were they lessons about brown bears?

If you like this then do try Michelle Robinson’s There’s a Lion in My Cornflakes (illustrated by the awesome Jim Field.) And if you’re at all interested in what a real-life 3-yr-old thinks, have a listen to our podcast. Her thoughts are very near the end…

Published by Bloomsbury. RRP £12.99.

Oi Frog!

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oifrogKes Gray takes a quick stroll through the rhyming dictionary in order to give Frog a lesson on his proper place in the world: on  a log, of course! Meanwhile, cats are sitting on mats, gophers on sofas, moles on poles and pumas on satsumas. Where else could they be?

A simple concept provides lots of scope for silly wordplay and Jim Field’s boldly coloured illustrations have never looked better. Already a bit of classic, Oi Frog! will have its readers chanting along merrily in no time.

If you liked this book, the pair have another title – Quick Quack, Quentin – coming out very soon.

Published by Hachette Children’s Group. RRP £6.99

 

Weasels

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weaselsThis is a very SERIOUS book about weasels taking over the world but with very silly illustrations full to the brim with lots of brilliant detail.

When the weasels’ world domination machine breaks the villainous creatures scurry about looking for a fix – pages and pages of fantastic pictures later they find the problem, which is good news for them but BAD news for us.

Weasels by Elys Dolan is a book that can read and re-read just to catch the details that you missed first time around.

The Day The Crayons Quit

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crayonsWhilst Jeffers might be the star name on the cover, Daywalt’s words are an equal match to the illustrations in this collection of letters from a box of crayons to their owner. Each crayon has a bone to pick with Duncan and the way his uses and abuses each of the colours in the box.

There’s a lot of dry wit in the text to match the more obviously funny pictures, with each crayon’s personality being given the chance to shine. Meanwhile there’s a subtle lesson on the colours that make up the world around us.

The Day The Crayons Quit is delightful.

Warning: Do Not Open This Book!

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warningI’m a big fan of books that interact with the reader. This clever picture book by Adam Lehrhaupt & Matthew Forsythe is talking to you right from the front cover, through the endpapers, and onwards with its stark warnings about what will happen if you dare turn its pages.

What happens? Monkey-filled mayhem, that’s what! The resulting chaos is beautifully realised in Forsythe’s humour-filled and gorgeously painted interiors. And that’s just the beginning. Toucans and alligators add to the mix and it’s up to the reader fix things!

Warning: Do Not Open This Book! is full of energy and fun.

Latest 0-4yrs

Supermarket Gremlins

This wonderful rhyming picture book written by Adam and Charlotte Guillain (authors of Spaghetti with the Yeti and Pizza for Pirates) and illustrated by Chris Chatterton, shows us the zany, secret world of the Supermarket Gremlins. This book is guaranteed to make you laugh out loud as you try to spot the little monsters hiding […]

Latest 4-8yrs

Snow-Man Windy Pops!

If you’ve ever found yourself reading a dull early reader book – most likely from a reading scheme – you and your kids will be jumping for joy at this new series. Snow-man Windy Pops! by the hilarious Tommy Donbavand and Steve Beckett is an incredibly irreverent Beano-esque blast of brilliance. Part of a set […]

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Perijee and Me

Wouldn’t you love to have your very own little alien friend? Well, that’s exactly what Caitlin gets in Perijee & Me by Ross Montgomery. Caitlin doesn’t have any friends, and she hates living out in the middle of nowhere on a remote island with a Mum who ignores her and a Dad who’s never there. And then she […]